In a bid to tackle unemployment in the country, the Federal Government has made entrepreneurship education a compulsory subject for students in secondary schools, an official said.

The Director, FCT Secondary Education Board, Mrs Yelwa Baba-Ari, said this on Wednesday at a one-day career workshop organised for students in FCT by Junior Achievement Nigeria.

Baba-Ari, who chaired the workshop with the theme: "Building your tomorrow today," said the decision to make entrepreneurship education compulsory in schools was informed by the need to be consistent with the National Policy on Education.

"The youth have to be empowered; you have to empower yourselves; you have to be self-employers; you do not have to wait for somebody to employ you; instead of waiting to be employed, you should create employment even right from your home.

"And if you are a medical doctor, an engineer, a lawyer - you are not going to wait for government to employ you.That is why whatever course you are taking; whatever programme you are undergoing - you have to know how to survive; how to make a living out of what you have done; and that is what we call achievement at the end of the day."

Baba-Ari said it was an added advantage for professionals to possess other skills they could take advantage of to make a living.

"It is time for you to determine where you will be in next five years; so determine where you will be from today."

The director, who said Nigeria was a land of opportunities blessed with human and natural resources, urged Nigerians to harness the abundant opportunities around them to make a living.

She called on government and non-governmental organisations to continue to assist youths by empowering them.

Baba-Ari urged the organisers of the programme to continue to imbibe the entrepreneurship culture for self- development.

Also speaking, Mrs Kunbi Wuraola, the Executive Director of Junior Achievement, told the youth to make a difference in their generation. She said no country in the world had the potential, characteristics and resilience that Nigerians possessed.

"We need to create tomorrow today and the only way we can create that is by keeping our selves busy; by going entrepreneurial; by looking at our immediate environment and coming up with ideas of what we can produce and sell because your generation is the generation we are looking up to for change in the country; so make that move."

Ogbe Winifred, a student of Government Girls Science Secondary School, Kuje, FCT, who spoke on behalf of the other students, said the workshop had taught her a lot on how to focus on achieving a successful future.

According to her, the workshop has exposed her to the proper way of arriving at decisions that would make a better tomorrow. Some of the schools present at the workshop were Model Secondary School, Maitama and Government Secondary School, Gwarimpa.

Highpoint of the workshop was the launch of a book entitled: "My Career and Decision." NAN

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